We got gold! UWB students also won it at the World University Winter Games in Turin

96 athletes in 11 sports and 54 members of the entourage, this is what the Czech Republic's representation at the World University Winter Games looked like. Five students of the University of West Bohemia were also nominated. Three UWB students managed to win gold in women's ice hockey in Turin.

Cross-country skier Adéla Nováková (Faculty of Economics), hockey player Vladimír Kremláček (Faculty of Law) and trio of hockey players Anna Vaníčková (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering) together with twins Alexandra (Faculty of Law) and Sandra (Faculty of Philosophy) Halounová went to represent the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen at the World University Winter Games. UWB was also represented on the spot in the coaching team with the head of the team for Ski Orienteering and assistant of the Department of Physical Education and Sport Ondrej Vodrážka. The World University Winter Games, formerly the World Universiade, were held from 14 to 23 January in Turin. The last time this Italian city hosted the Winter Olympics was in 2006.

"The female hockey players achieved a huge success. They went through the tournament basically without hesitation, where, among other things, they defeated a strong USA team. In the semi-finals they went through Slovakia and made it to the final. There they faced the biggest favourite of the tournament - Canada. In the very dramatic battle for the gold they fought with the big favourite and after 60 minutes of play the score was tied 1:1. In the overtime, the overall victory in the tournament was decided by a wonderful goal by the first year student of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Anna Vaníčková. And the historic success was in the world," described the decisive moments Ondřej Vodrážka.

"I hit it quite well, the joy afterwards was really great. But to be honest I don't remember that moment very much, the girls jumped on me and suddenly they were giving us gold medals on our necks," added the golden goal scorer Anna Vaníčková.

The Haloun sisters also commented on the tournament: "The whole tournament was quite demanding because we played a total of 5 games in 9 days, including the last one in overtime. In addition, before the tournament some of our players got sick and some of them didn't come from American universities. But the girls who were here really fought," said Sandra. Alexandra added: "We didn't have an easy road to the finals because we were up against American girls who are very strong in women's hockey. The semi-final against Slovakia was also tough. It was a very strong line-up, more than half of the players had these games as part of their pre-Olympic qualification."

UWB was also represented in men's hockey. Czech Republic was represented by law student Vladimír Kremláček and this team also aimed high. They beat strong teams from Canada, Sweden, as well as Kazakhstan and South Korea in the regular group. They then went on to play Ukraine in the quarter-finals. Unfortunately, this game did not go their way and they lost 3:4 in overtime.

In the white track, the university was represented by cross-country skier Adéla Nováková. "The student of the Faculty of Economics did an excellent individual sprint in classical technique. Although she just missed the six-man final by 0.2 seconds, she still recorded 7th place and then added 11th place in the 10 km free," said Vodrážka.

It was under Vodrážka's guidance that Josef Nagy of the ČVUT additionally managed to win a bronze medal in ski orienteering, a sport that is only in its second year at such an event.

Students from all over the Czech Republic won a total of 5 gold metals in the world competition.

Adéla Nováková, Anna Vaníčková, Alexandra Halounová and Sandra Halounová are also members of the UNIS project, which aims to support the dual careers of female and male university athletes.